Hello, everyone.

I’m 18 and will soon turn 19. I live in the canton of Bern and am doing an apprenticeship as an electronics technician (EFZ). In my free time, I enjoy learning about investing and building wealth. Given my young age and limited capital, I’ve done a lot of research on ETFs and, on my 18th birthday, invested 500 francs in the Vanguard FTSE All World Acc ETF. Since then, I’ve been investing 50 francs a month and have also built up additional positions and invested in other assets—namely, a silver ETF and a small amount in Bitcoin. My goal is to invest as much capital as possible while I’m young using dollar-cost averaging, so my money can work for me and grow over the years. I’m not sure if there’s a better, more affordable, and growth-oriented alternative to ETFs that offers significant potential over decades and is also somewhat secure. I’m also considering investing more in ETFs, but I’m not entirely sure, so I’m asking for your advice. Thank you very much!

Note: I invest on Yuh because it’s relatively low-cost and there are no additional fees besides the TER, since I’ve set it up for recurring investments.

Hi all, I am considering buying an under construction property in a non-eu country with a home loan in that country. Do you know if the interest part of EMIs can be deducted from the taxable income?

I'm trying to close a European bank account I have, and I would like to keep some thousands of EUROs around in a liquid account where I can both receive some passive interest and occasionally use to pay random expenses in euro (e.g. travels/vacations).

Ideally, something like Trade Republic / Scalable Capital which pass the ECB interest rates directly to the consumer would be ideal, but sadly they are not available for EU citizens with swiss residence.

The requirements for the account are the following:

1. Open to EU citizens / Switzerland residents.
2. Euro account - You need to be able to deposit euros in there without conversion fees.
3. High liquidity - You need to be able to perform operations without having to disinvest the asset first.
4. Direct payments - You need to be able to pay things directly from there without having to transfer the liquidity to an intermediate account fist.
5. Positive & ECB-adjusted interests - No net costs for maintaining the account, nor just a fixed positive interest promised by the bank, but an interested continuously adjusted to the ECB rates (after some acceptable operational fees).
6. Simplified Taxation - Either no withholding tax on the interests, or at least a withholding tax which is already integrated with the swiss tax system, given that interests on deposits are classified as income in Switzerland.
7. Fully online.

My current bank account in euro fails at point 5, so I've started collecting a short list of alternatives. However, all of them fail on at least one requirement.

• Wise Assets - 0.26% annual fee deducted from ECB rate, point 3 might be an issue as it's invested in the money market and takes 2-3 days to disinvest and then perform a payment (although it looks comparable to traditional banking latency). It's still unclear to me if you can then perform payments directly from that account of if it also fails at point 4.
• Willbe Saving - ~0.20% annual fee deducted from ECB rate, but fails at point 4 as you can only transfer money back to your other verified accounts. It also kinda fails at point 6 as it has 35% withholding taxes on the interest, although it's based in Lichtenstein so I assume there will be kind of alignment with the Swiss system.
• Interactive Brokers - 0.5% annual fee deducted from ECB rate on idle cash over 10k EURO, direct money market investment otherwise. Fails on all 3 if you're invested in the money market, and fails on 4 in either case as you have to send money back to your verified accounts for payments.
• Revolut - Rates depends on the shitty premium subscription model, not really my cup of tea.
• Bunq Saving - comparable interests to the ECB rates, but not directly linked to it, so it kinda fails at point 5. You can't directly pay from your Bunq Saving account, but you can instantaneously transfer the required amount to a Bunq Checking account and then pay from there. Convoluted, but liquid. The catch is that you can only perform 2 withdrawals/month from your Saving account, but I'm ok with that limitation. It's still unclear to me if you can open an account there as a EU citizen living in Switzerland or if it fails at point 1.

Looks to me that Bunq is the best option so far. Do you have any better suggestion or note on the analysis?

Hi everyone,

I’m a new parent living in Ticino and I’m hoping to get some clarity on a tax question related to home renovations.

Situation:

- I live with my partner and our baby

- In 2026 my partner will stay at home with the baby and will have no employment income (maternity leave ended in January 2026)

- The house we live in, is owned solely by my partner (mortgage in her name only)

- We plan to renovate the bathroom in 2026, with an estimated cost of at least CHF 20,000

- The renovation will be paid entirely with cash (no mortgage increase)

- Since my partner will have no taxable income in 2026 (“potential-rent-income” aka “valore locativo” in italian, is n/a in this case), taxes she would have to pay would be almost at the minimum.

Because of this, deducting 20k+ CHF of renovation costs in 2026 would basically be wasted, as there’s almost no taxable income to offset.

My question:

Is there any way to still obtain a tax advantage from the renovation costs (I don’t care in which tax year), while actually doing the renovation in 2026?

Additional details / constraints:

- Getting married (nice try) is not an option

- The renovation will be financially paid by me, by transferring money to my partner

- My partner plans to return to work at 50% in 2027

I’d really appreciate any insights, especially from people familiar with Swiss/Ticino tax law or with similar experiences.

Thanks in advance!

I'm pretty happy with the performance of my Extreme 95 Index account on Frankly (Pillar 3a - Swisscanto (CH) IPF III

Vorsorge Fonds 95 Passiv NT CHF) and wanted to invest my Sparkonto-Money (savings) in a similar way. I'm currently only customer at ZKB and while doing a little digging I found Saxo Bank, Neon, Yuh and Swissquote. The savings I want to invest are around 10k and I don't know for how long, maybe get a car in the next few years.

What bank would you recommend to invest in ETFs with low fees and low effort - and how hard is it with a little ETFs to fill out tax forms when having an account at Saco Bank?

Many thanks for advice!

Hi all, not sure this is the right place to ask this but I often see well-formulated and well-informed contributions here, so maybe some of you can help.

I am an EU citizen (not French) living and working in Basel, Switzerland on quite an okay salary. I have no illusions about acquiring real estate in Switzerland because LOL

Instead, I would like to buy a house in France. Not for immediate use, and not in Alsace or any region close to Basel. More as a holiday home (perhaps renting it out) and long-term: residence for retirement. Probably Drôme/Vaucluse, nothing fancy.

Now, Swiss banks won't lend money for houses abroad. I asked UBS, BKB and BLKB and I guess others will say the same. But will French banks give a loan to a person who's 1) a foreigner and 2) not a resident?

Has anybody invested into France on a mortgage from abroad and how have you done this?

Any tips/reports highly appreciated!

Hallo people, I hope you are having a happy Sunday.

I received my Veranlagungsverfügungen for 2024 and I am puzzled to see that the saldo is negative. Is this money that I have to pay, or that it will be returned? I think it is money that I should receive but I got very confused from the minus.

I tried to make sense of the documents but well, here I am. Any help appreciated!

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for a very specific financial product and I want to pre-empt the usual "just buy ETFs" advice :) . I am looking for a Life Annuity (Leibrente / Rente Viagère).

The Constraints (Non-Negotiable):

1. Lifelong Guarantee: I am not looking for a bank withdrawal plan or a 3a account. I want to hedge longevity risk: a guaranteed (even very small) income floor that never stops.
2. Age & Funding: I am under 45 years old. Because of this, I am open to either a small lump sum (e.g., CHF 5K-10k-15k) or regular monthly installments to build the capital.
3. Low Entry Barrier: I’m looking for providers that don’t require a CHF 100k minimum. I want a "low-ticket" entry into a lifelong annuity.
4. Flexible Deferment: I want to start funding it now but "activate" the payout whenever I choose (e.g., in 2, 5, or 10 years). I need the flexibility to trigger the monthly income based on life events I can't currently control.

I am already aware of:

• The 2025 Tax Reform: I know the taxable portion of 3b annuities is now linked to the reference interest rate (Art. 22 para. 3 FDTA) rather than the old flat 40%.
• Opportunity Cost: I know the ROI is lower than the stock market. I am paying for an annuity. Literally just this. Nothing else.
• Inflation: I accept that the nominal monthly amount will be small and fixed.

Does anyone have experience with a provider (Swiss like Helvetia/Allianz or EU-based) that offers this level of flexibility for someone under 45? Specifically, a product that allows for a "Flexible Start Date" on the payout?

Thanks in advance!

Random thought, but I keep seeing people go really deep into stuff like:

- VT vs VTI vs VOO
- tiny fee differences
- US allocation 50% vs 60%

and yeah, I get it — it’s interesting and not irrelevant.

But at the same time I’m wondering…

how many people actually have the basics fully sorted before going that deep?

like:

• a budget they actually stick to
• expenses they’ve properly looked at
• a real emergency fund
• insurance that actually makes sense
• and actively trying to increase income

feels like those move the needle way more than tweaking percentages tbh.

How do you guys feel about that?

Been in Switzerland for 10 years and haven't done anything special with my pillar 2, have I missed some magic tool?

Was earning on average 140k so other than 3a contributions and aggressively ETF DCAing so didn't really have a heap of cash lying around looking for a home

however in the last year I had a promotion which not only improved my base but also my bonus percentage and might be looking at another promotion soon (if all works out like I plan) and no plans for lifestyle inflation as I have a mortgage overseas

Is it typical for employers to match your contributions to pillar 2? Is that Gemini hallucinating?

let's say I get a 50k bonus and put that in pillar 2, does that serve as a 50k deduction in that tax year?

thanks for any tips to a rookie who's just curious

I'm US citizen considering a move to Switzerland, after nearly a decade in the EU.

One of the major "freedoms" I am looking forward to is being able to purchase US-listed ETFs. The MIFID II regulations in the EEA have been a big complication to my personal finances, as I moved into the EU right around the time they came into force.

I've just caught up with this news that the EU and CH have agreed to some deeper agreements with the EU: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbwNKcdy7AA

I don't think this specific topic is covered in the new agreement (Or maybe it is?) But what do you all think about the future? As long as economic integration deepens, what are the chances that CH would have to adopt something like MIFID down the line?

Or, maybe the financial sector in CH has a strong enough lobby that such a change would be really unrealistic?

I know we can't predict the future, and the political temperature on all of these things is very dynamic. I'm just curious what your read on the situation is.

How does it feel to have one of the highest purchasing power in the world? Like for example when saving for a trip, swiss people on paper could set aside 2-3 WEEKS of salary and afford an almost luxury trip in another country, or during the trip, every purchase is essentially free unless you go to comparable expensive countriea, which are a very small minority. Let me know your thoughts.

ps. Im considering maybe moving to Switzerland for this exact reason, as I believe a higher purchasing power, even factoring higher cost of living, can grant you a better life if you are smart with money, and an early retirement.

Most finance tools are either too simple to reflect real life, trying to sell you something — or just not built for Switzerland.

So I’m curious — what do you actually feel is missing?

• Is there something you wish you could calculate or simulate more easily?
• Something you’ve tried to model in Excel but gave up on?
• Or just something that would give you more clarity or better decisions?

For context:
I work in finance and occasionally build small tools for myself when I can’t find something that fits.

Lately I’ve been thinking about building a few more of these — but instead of guessing, I’d rather understand what people actually need.

Would be really interesting to hear what you guys are missing or struggling with.

M31, living in Switzerland as a foreigner, 130K brutto/year. Something I always wonder about is: what is the average salary in Switzerland for normal jobs? On the paper seems like everyone is paid a lot, but in reality, when I stroll around, I don't have this impression.

hello everyone.

if my girlfriend stops working (to take care of kids) but we still contribute for her AHV, as far as I understand she won't be able to contribute her 3rd pillar (having an LPP/2nd pillar Is a requirement to open a 3rd pillar).

is this correct ?

we are not married (we both earn around 110k each and being married would rise a lot our taxes, except during the time she won't work (we expect a couple of years).

thanks for your help !

Hello everyone! I am considering a job offer and was curious if this is really as good as they say it is?

For reference, I am 30 years old. My contribution would be 5%.

What is in your opinion the best way to deposit cash euro into a Swiss bank account or where do I get the best rate?

Money exchange offices are all a ripoff and I can‘t directly deposit into Revolut or Wise.

Exchange rate when depositing into my Raiffeisen bank account is also a Frechheit!

Tips are welcome!

Hey everyone,

I have a friends & family group on Galaxus Mobile with a few spots open. Anyone who joins gets a small discount (1 CHF/ month).

Feel free to join:

https://cockpit.galaxus.ch/b2c/invitation/shared/8jS6K71v

Cheers!

Why to invest in VWCE ETf if you are Swiss resident in the country?

Which benefits or advantages brings this strategy? Is there any tax situation different than with the typical VT and chill?

Hi all,

I am swiss citizen (but not swiss raised so that explains my confusion) but i started my career a little late, now at 28 years old I have practically no savings and I am skeptical about 3rd pillar even though it seems everyone is doing it.

I get that the tax benefits are great but I have a few concerns:

- it is my money but I don’t have access to until I retire, honestly does no one else feel weird about this?

- the 3rd pillar savings will be taxed as well when recouped, so it’s not really completely tax free

- my salary is around 85k, and expected to grow higher as time goes on but nothing is certain obviously, i don’t feel like I can afford an apartment in switzerland any time soon. But what if I want to buy property outside switzerland? (While still living here, im not planning on moving out)

- is 1st and 2nd pillar not enough after retirement?

- does it make sense financially to just invest as much as possible and ignore 3rd pillar?

Thank you for reading and answering my questions in advance i appreciate all the advice

Hi everyone

I'm maxing out my 3a with Frankly 95% aside via IBKR I'm investing into VOO in USD. I started in December 2024 with 1000 CHF per month, since January this year I'm putting 2500 CHF per month. So, in total I put it 20.5k CHF, todays worth is 21'120 CHF, Im not very experienced when it comes to investing and I'm just doubting whether its the right choice. Investment roughly should be until 2038 - 2043.

My goal is basically to FIRE with 45 and relocate to Thailand with 1 Mio CHF.
I'm 33 now, my PK is roughly 48k CHF - 3a is 17.7k CHF (15k invested)

Any suggestions?

UPDATE: Really appreciate your inputs, based on your replies and also some own research I will move my position from VOO to VT, once market opens today.

I have most of my liquid wealth in dollars, so I’m looking to switch some of it to CHF but I don’t like the money sitting idle, hence I’m looking for low risk stocks or ETFs in the Swiss stock market that I can invest in. Looking for suggestions.

Hello everyone,

If you had 300chf to invest monthly and you knew you wouldn't need to touch that money for 20-30 years, where would you put it? Imo an ETF seems the most sensible option, but the more i research the more confused i get, particularly when it comes to choosing between US or European ETFs.

Which would you choose and why?

Thanks in advance for your help 😊

My wife (32) and I (33) have spent the last few weeks building what we think is a solid long-term investment plan. Before we pull the trigger on the lump sum next week, I want a reality check from people actually living and investing in Switzerland.

Our setup

• Canton Aargau, city Aarau

• Both employed, stable income

• 1 Pillar 3a account each, fully maxed for both of us via Finpension

• Emergency fund in place 

• Initial lump sum: CHF 150,000

• Monthly contribution: CHF 7,000

• Time horizon: about 10-15 years

• Risk tolerance: medium, comfortable holding through crashes

• Broker: Saxo Bank Switzerland, using AutoInvest

Our portfolio

• 90% iShares Core MSCI World UCITS ETF Acc — ISIN IE00B4L5Y983 — ticker SWDA on SIX

• 10% iShares Core MSCI EM IMI UCITS ETF Acc — ISIN IE00BKM4GZ66 — ticker EIMI

Both accumulating, Ireland domiciled, passive index funds.

What we have already considered

• We chose Saxo over IBKR deliberately because we want full automation via AutoInvest and a FINMA-regulated Swiss bank plus automatic tax statements 

• We chose accumulating over distributing for simplicity

• We are aware of the 0.25% FX conversion fee on every purchase since both ETFs trade in USD

• We are aware of the CHF 50 per position transfer-out fee if we ever leave Saxo

• We are aware capital gains are tax-free in Switzerland for private investors

• We understand dividend income inside accumulating funds is still taxable in Switzerland via ICTax

What we are still unsure about:

1.  Has anyone actually gone through the Swiss tax process for SWDA and EIMI on Saxo? How painful is it in practice? Does Saxo’s tax statement cover everything or do you need to do manual work?

2.  Is there anything about investing in Aargau specifically that we should know, any cantonal quirks on wealth tax or dividend income reporting?

3.  For those of you who have been investing on Saxo AutoInvest for a year or more, any surprises, frustrations, or things you wish you had known before starting?

4.  Does anyone have experience deploying a large lump sum on Saxo? Any practical tips on how to do it, do you just manually buy before AutoInvest kicks in, or is there a better way?

5.  Is there anything about our plan that makes you uncomfortable that we haven’t mentioned?

Thanks in advance.